This List of Beautiful Things Will Make You Happy

An easy technique to put you in an instant good mood.

Here is a simple but effective technique to elevate your mood.

Write a list of simple things you love.

To get your inspiration, you might want to refer back to your childhood or to a time when things were good for you. Or simply look around you and notice what makes you happy as you go about your days.

I referred back to my own childhood growing up in the gorgeous wilds of South-West England.

Here is my list.

• Making wishes by blowing wispy dandelions.

• Skeleton leaves.

• Lawn sprinkler rainbows.

• Rain on a sunny day.

• The silky, fine fur on peaches.

• The way horses swish their tails.

• Rolling down grass banks. (Also known as ‘roly-poly down the hill’.)

• Having a silly conversation with myself.

• When something wakes you up early in the morning and you think you’re not going back to sleep but you do and your dreams are buttery and warm.

• Old ladies in libraries who look at you with twinkling eyes when you ask for a book.

• Singing to dogs.

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• Stories where the main character has to be brave.

• The way cats look at you out of the corners of their eyes as if they know what you’re thinking about.

• The smell of melted chocolate.

• The face in the moon.

• Teaching someone how to get the honey from honeysuckle who has never had it before.

• Cool sand and bare feet.

• When you find a penny and pick it up and have good luck all day.

• Finding wild strawberries.

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• People who are too clever to hide it although they try.

• Thinking about magical creatures.

• Saying, ‘Most peculiar!’ and raising your eyebrows.

• Realising you’re having a dream while you’re dreaming.

• Noticing you’re not dreaming when you’re awake.

• When you have a good friend and neither of you can stop talking or saying silly things.

• The smell of fresh paint.

• Surprising people by how much I like pickles.

• Finding an old story I started writing and had forgotten about and realising it’s great!

• Having a big stack of new notebooks.

• Songs that are so sad they make you happy.

• Brand new pencils.

• Getting to the end of an exceptionally good book but knowing there are still lots of books by the same author to read.

• Remembering something funny from a long time ago and laughing out loud.

• Very well polished shoes.

• Opening a window for an insect and it flies away but before it does it seems to say, thank you!

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WRITE YOUR OWN LIST

I had fun coming up with this list. It helped me see things in a new way and put me in a really good mood.

I suggest you write your own list. I promise you, you’ll feel immediately uplifted. You can read it to pick yourself up anytime.

Thank you for reading. I wish you everything.